Evacuation from Azovstal plant is not possible on Thursday, as there is no stable ceasefire

The Estonian president said the growing body of evidence describing murders and sexual crimes against Ukrainian citizens coming from cities around Kyiv was tantamount to “war crimes” with “elements of genocide” after he visited a number of sites last week.

“It’s just awful. I’m speechless. I mean, I’m killing civilians, children, raping women, and you see the results,” Alar Karis told CNN on Thursday. “This is a war crime, this is a crime against humanity.

When asked if what he saw was genocide, he replied: “Well, elements of genocide, definitely.”

Estonian President Alar Karis spoke to CNN on April 21. (CNN)

Together with the leaders of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, Karis met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky in Kyiv on April 13th. They talked about banning Russian oil and gas and how to get Ukraine’s large grain storage facility out of the country.

“One suggestion was that we could, [use] our ports in [the] The Baltics also in Poland and use trains to deliver grain to different countries. And of course, another option is to try to keep the port of Odessa open [so] that we can provide this type of humanitarian service [aid] to the countries, “Karis said.

Estonia has called on the European Union to impose sanctions on the transport of Russian oil and gas, but Karis declined to criticize Germany for its decision to continue importing fuel.

“But [a] a country like Germany, of course, is a huge country. It is not like Estonia, because we decided to do it with the Baltic states [would] to stop buying gas from Russia by the end of the year. But it’s probably hard for Germany, “Karis told CNN.

The US State Department suggested on Wednesday that NATO allies could become actively involved in Ukraine to help implement evacuation corridors. Karis said such a move is unlikely unless Russia starts using chemical weapons.

Russia is closing Latvia’s consulates in St. Petersburg and Pskov, as well as the Estonian and Lithuanian consulates general in St. Petersburg, and all their staff have been declared persona non grata, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Thursday. Karis was not worried about the decision, saying only “it is a practice that diplomats have.”